Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 19
19
Accepted
Local authority licensing schemes rely on provider fees, posing significant funding challenges.
Conclusion
DLUHC has committed to assessing if local authorities will need new burdens funding to help them to set up the schemes. It told us that it expects local authorities to fund the licensing schemes’ running costs through the fees they will charge participating providers.37 However, DLUHC has noted the difficulty that local authorities will face when trying to find a balance between a sufficiently robust licensing scheme and setting the fee at the right level to be able to appropriately recover costs without making it difficult for providers to access.38 Fraud
Government Response Summary
The government agrees, acknowledging the challenge of balancing licensing scheme costs and fees. DLUHC will take a proportionate approach, publishing a consultation in early 2024 and subsequently impact assessments for the regulations, which will consider fee levels.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
4.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Winter 2024 4.2 The Act makes provision for licensing Regulations to require or permit the licensing authority to charge fees covering the cost of performing the authority’s functions, as set out in the Regulations. The government recognises that providing supported housing is a low-margin activity for many good providers, so any additional costs must be balanced against the impact on new and existing schemes. 4.3 DLUHC will take a proportionate approach to these reforms to protect good quality supported housing. DLUHC must ensure the measures work as intended so that all supported housing is of good quality and that LAs are able to effectively enforce against poor quality provision. 4.4 A consultation on the measures contained in the Act will be published in early 2024. This consultation will ask for views on the proposed design of the licensing regime and all responses will be analysed carefully. 4.5 Impact assessments will be published alongside the regulations for the licensing regime. These regulations will be drafted and consulted upon after the first consultation responses have been analysed. The level of any fees will be considered as part of that impact assessment.